Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg H
One of I'm not sure which tunnel:
The Los Angeles Book - Max Yavno |
The photo shows 3rd St in 1949 looking east across Figueroa and Flower to the west end of the 3rd St tunnel with Bunker Hill above. The streetscape is a vibrant, lively and wonderful jumble of hotels, coffee shops, clubs, theaters shops and signage. Pedestrians bustle along the sidewalks. It looks like one could spend all day there and have a good time. Up on Bunker Hill one can see cars moving on Hope St directly behind the tunnel's retaining wall parapet. More cars and pedestrians travel Bunker Hill Avenue at the crest.
Today, if one visits the spot in one's Googlemobile, nothing but the tunnel itself is left, the entrance of which has been brought radically forward. The World Trade Center squats on the south side of 3rd between Figueroa and Flower (devoid of any entrance for pedestrians) while the monolithic, blank and forbidding base of the 333 South Hope Building (incidentally, the only building downtown the sides of which are oriented towards the compass points) runs from Flower St to deep inside whats left of Bunker Hill. Only the yawning entrance of its loading dock gives any relief. Next to the tunnel entrance on the north side of 3rd a large, but never used, patch of grass angles away followed by Kosciuszko Way and a stray branch of Hope St spilling into the intersection of 3rd and Flower. And finally, the anemic landscaping, "tasteful" signage and glum architecture of the Bunker Hill Apartments brings one back, after passing under a rather cutsy pedestrian bridge, to 3rd and Figueroa. There's not a pedestrian in sight, including on the dedicated bridge. This must now be a couple of the most desolate blocks in town:
gsv
gsv
If Bunker Hill had remained wild, used by Angelenos only for recreation (as downtown's answer to Griffith Park or even LA's answer to NYC's Central Park) LA would be a very different city. In the 1868 view below Bunker Hill looks like a big, friendly, protective dog sleeping peacefully on downtown's western flank (Spring St at left, Broadway at center, both disappearing towards the horizon).
P.S. to
ethereal_reality, Thank you!